Mage PvE guide
Things Mages want Non-Mages to know # Do not attack the sheep; do not put a DoT of any sort on the sheep. They can stay sheeped for up to 50 seconds from a high level mage. If you accidentally attacked the sheep, the mage will usually re-sheep it when his current spell finishes, so go ahead and let it attack you unless the mage sheeps something else. It would continue attacking you until it was dead anyways; this way if the mage re-sheeps the mob, the group will be able to maintain focus on fewer free mobs. # When pulling a group with multiple CCs, attack sapped mobs before sheeped ones. We can re-sheep in the middle of a battle. Rogues can't re-sap. # If you are in my group and I suddenly run past you, turn around and attack what's chasing me. I will stop to allow you to retake aggro. # If you have a choice of two targets in front of you, and one of them has their feet frozen in ice, hit the other one. Frozen targets will remain immobilized but still be able to melee or shoot for up to 8 secs unless they are attacked. As soon as is reasonable, try to take aggro on the mobs that had been frozen but are now free. Since Frost Nova deals damage, that means the mage that froze them has some hate built up with those mobs. With each of those mobs, you need to take aggro from the mage. # If you want me to AoE, don't pull and then run away, or the flamestrike or blizzard will miss. # The AoE that I deal will be against non elites. Keep aggro on the elites so that they don't come for me. # Ice Block (looks like a freeze trap that hunters have) is a frost talent that grants inmunity during 10 sec with 5 min cooldown. It can be used to dispell debuffs, allow the tank to regain aggro, AND as a desperate last call for healing. # We are happy to give you food and water, but please don't just scream at us and expect us to just because you think your more important. Sharing is caring, but manners won't kill you. Simply ask, and you'll get what you need. If we miss a request, whisper. # Don't be the warrior that tries to hold aggro with your fury and dual wielding crap. That may work at level 20, but when I've just combustion/blastwaved a massive group of enemies... you won't have a chance. Don't go battle stance and do a fool's charge. Go defensive stance and make use of shield block and revenge. # When out of mana (oom), mages can't do their job properly. The down time might get tiresome but wait it out. It's even more tiresome for the mage. Yes, we can use our Evocation skill to replenish our mana quickly if needed, but it has an 8 minute cooldown. Let us drink between fights so we can save it for when we need it. We deal a lot of damage, and that damage requires mana. If we expect to encounter a long battle within 8 minutes, we need Evocation for that battle, or we need to wait out the cooldown in preparation. # AoE is a perfect recipe for breaking polymorph. If you have a sheep right beside you then have some common sense and don't use abilities like Thunder Clap which will break the sheep. Try pulling the mobs that you're already fighting in a safe direction and use your AoE there. # Don't expect mages to save you when you're low on health. We have some rooting abilities but we're neither healers nor a support class in general. The best we can do is try and pull the aggro off of you with lots of damage, which usually results in us dying instead. # If there is a mage NPC that I am fighting, I probably don't want you to take aggro from me unless my death is imminent. But in most cases, it won't be, because I have Fire Ward and Frost Ward at my disposal, both of which absorb damage from the respective schools. Mages have Mage Armor which does not in fact add armor rating as items do, but it does add resistance to all schools of magic, so it is quite likely that we have more resistance than you do. Also, some mages have Magic Absorption which further increases resistance to all schools of magic and (with this talent) if they fully resist a magic attack they gain up to 5% of their full mana bar. Mage players can easily solo a fire or frost casting instance-grade elite (but not boss) of similar level easily. Things Non-Mages want Mages to know # Say when you are out of mana and need to drink. Something like a quick "oom" should work, and is best noted before combat ends. # Use Detect Magic on mobs that have special skills at certain times. For example, although it is commonly known that Herod is immune to all attacks when he's spinning, it may be good to use Detect Magic on him (and others like him) before the combat so that you can see what his buff really is. Araj the Summoner and Blazerunner are other examples of mobs you might want to use this on. # Call out sheep target before start of battle using "Detect Magic" on the mob. That will display a helix of light from the feet of the mob to above the head, that your party can learn to interpret as a sheep warning sign, if you so notify them. Making a macro is less useful, because you are relaying on your party to check the mob names in the 1.5 seconds casting time that the sheep spell requires. But if you fancy that, you can make a macro with "/p sheeping %T" and "/cast name" and drag the macro to your bar. The %T will insert the name of your targeted mob. To insert the spell line just shift+click the spell in your spell book. E.g. when used the macro will say 'Sheeping MobX'. It is also helpful to use Lucky Charms to mark the sheep. # Keep out of melee range, if possible, and run into the arms of the main tank or a deft off-tank if you are getting beat on by a mob. # Don't sheep the mob with a DoT on it. It's a waste of mana and time. # Know when to sheep and when to back up and AoE all of the mobs. Usualy just concentrate fire on the one mob that the warrior is tanking. # Don't run around if you get agro unless you freeze the mob. Chasing the mob makes it harder to get its agro off you. Category:Mages